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Monday, 17 October 2016

Arrest of judges-Lawyer files N50bn suit on Buhari, DSS, AGF, others

A Lagos-based activist and legal practitioner, Mr. Olukoya Ogungbeje has
filed a N50 billion suit against President Muhammadu Buhari, the
Department of State Services (DSS) and its Director-General, Lawal Daura
over alleged violation of the rights of some judges whose houses were
raided and arrested between October 8 and 9, 2016.

Other defendants named in the suit are Attorney-General of the
Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, Inspector-General
of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and the National Judicial Council (NJC).
Ogungbeje alleged that the clampdown and arrest, without recourse to the
NJC, was unlawful and amounted to humiliating them.

According to the Daily Sun, he said the DSS operation violated the
rights of judges under sections 33, 34, 35, 36, and 41 of the 1999
Constitution. Among others, he seeks an order awarding N50 billion
against the defendants as “general and exemplary damages.”

He also sought to be awarded N2m as the cost of the suit.

He also sought an order compelling the DSS to return to the judges the sums of money recovered from them.

He also sought perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from
arresting, inviting, intimidating, or harrassing the judges with respect
to the case.

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But Ogungbeje’s suit is restricted to five of the arrested judges who
are still in active service, namely, Justices Ngwuta, Okoro, Ademola,
Pindiga and Dimgba.

The plaintiff contended in his suit that the raid on the residences of
the judges and their arrest was unconstitutional.He maintained that the
arrest of the judges did not follow the law.